It starts with a scenic drive up the 101. You see a sign for “Ojai” and turn onto a narrower road, accompanied by sunny fields, tall trees, and the big open sky. You pass through the town, which gives way to farmland, endless orange groves, and an explosion of fall colors. And then, you arrive at the Thacher School.

Dana & Brandon recently moved onto the Thacher campus after living for years in NYC. The change from loud streets & busy sidewalks to a quiet home on campus was quite the drastic change, but they love their new life at Thacher. I was so excited to meet them in this quiet nook outside of Ojai and explore the lovely quaint campus with them. We shot just across the street from their house where Dana walks over daily to pick grapefruits & oranges off the trees, we visited their favorite pepper tree-lined road, we drove up to the tippy top of campus that houses the observatory. I always love love shooting in and around the homes of couples – there is always something so relaxed & intimate about these kinds of sessions!

When I was in San Francisco for Meenah & Shaobo‘s wedding {coming to the blog soon!} I had the opportunity to meet up with Tiffany & Jeremy for a sweet engagement session in Muir Woods and the nearby beach. I had no idea that just on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge lay such beauty – I drove along in utter amazement as I crossed through the magical little town of Sausalito, alongside small bays, through rolling grassy hills, and finally, up to the gorgeous expanse of trees that makes up the woods. All week long the forecast called for an 80% chance of rain, but as it always seems to do, the weather turned in our favor and not a drop fell the entire day.

Tiffany & Jeremy booked me over email/phone, so it was so exciting to finally meet them in person! They are so sweet and perfect together and I can’t wait for their lovely norcal wedding at Fogarty Winery next summer!

Now, have I mentioned how much I LOVE shooting in the woods?

I started the year with a handful of big goals – to work with couples I felt I really connected with, to collaborate with other vendors on some beautiful stylized shoots {here, here & here}, and to sneak in a couple destination weddings {one here and another one coming soon!}. My last (and loftiest?) goal was to get some work published in print. So you can imagine I was more than a wee bit excited when the girls of Southern Weddings Magazine contacted me asking for some bouquet shots for their upcoming issue! I sent over a handful of faves & they ended up including two of them in their latest fall edition. Southern Weddings is IMO one of the most stylish & creative wedding mags out there, each & every page is truly a work of art! It is an honor to be included in their visually stunning third issue!

Also a big thank you to the amaaazing florists who put together these beauties!

Linda’s bouquet of lush pink peonies & sweet peas just left of the shot with the black dress, created by Cindy of Floral Elements. I also noticed there was an editor’s note by Emily naming it as her fave! :)

And below, a whimsical red & black bouquet along the left from the Queen of Hearts shoot, created by Mai of Bunch Studio:

A big big thank you to Emily & all the girls at Southern Weddings for including my work in their amazing publication! Their V3 is seriously one of the most inspirational magazines I’ve perused in a long time… go out and get your copy now!

I’ve also been meaning to mention just a few of our recent blog features… I follow so many of these blogs religiously for daily inspiration & it’s an honor to be included within their posts. I believe wedding blogs are one of THE greatest planning tools out there and it’s such a treat to peek into the massively creative ideas couples come up with for their day, the unique ways they weave their story into the details, the way each wedding speaks directly to who the couple is. I am a firm believer that it does not take oodles of cash to make a visually stunning wedding – all it takes is a little brainstorming, style, imagination, & DIY goodness, and I love that these wedding blogs promote these ideas in each & every one of their posts!

Thank you so much to the following blogs for featuring a bit of my work!

Style Me Pretty

Grey Likes Weddings {newly redesigned & oh-so-beautiful!}

Ever Ours

Project Wedding